Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Milestones: WB4APR and K6SSS Are Silent Keys

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) developer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, became a Silent Key in February at age 73. According to the ARRL Letter, Bruninga succumbed to a combination of cancer and Covid-19. In addition to being a pioneer in packet radio, Bruninga had a long-standing interest in alternative power sources and was a retired senior research engineer at the U.S. Naval Academy.

CQ Contest Hall of Famer and longtime CQWW DX Contest recordkeeper Fred Capossela, K6SSS, passed away in late December. Lifelong friend and fellow DXer and contester Joe Reisert, W1JR, recalled riding his bike to Fred's home in New York in the 1950s, operating with him from Navassa Island in 1957 and contesting with him at one of the first contest superstations, K2GL in upstate New York. Fred was a professor of marketing and advertising at Cal Poly University in California for30 years before retiring in 2007, the same year in which he was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Fred was 84.